CEO Kevin McClatchy said Friday he will step down after the end of the season, ending an 11-year tenure as leader of a baseball team that hasn’t had a winning season since 1992.
44-year-old McClatchy had been principal owner until January, when that title was assumed by Robert Nutting, the team’s chairman of the board. McClatchy took on the CEO title, but has been the face of the team since 1996, when he was part of a group that purchased the Pirates.
”A decision of this personal and professional magnitude is not the type you make overnight. It was something Bob (Nutting) and I have discussed even before the change of control took place in January and something I decided upon a few months ago,” McClatchy said in a statement. “It was a difficult decision, but in the end I felt the time was right to step down as the day-to-day leader so the organization can move forward with a fresh perspective.”
In a statement, Nutting said the decision was announced Friday to allow for a “thorough” search for a successor.
Click on the video below to view news coverage of McClatchy’s tenure as CEO of the Pirates.
